Framing the Literacy Issue: Correcting Educational Misrepresentations in U.S. Society (Report‪)‬

Despite much political discourse around literacy issues, this rhetoric has yet to be transformed into concrete reforms that will address the plight of urban minority populations where illiteracy abounds. America 2000 (1991) stipulated that by the year 2000, "every adult American will be literate and will possess the knowledge and skills necessary to compete in a global economy and exercise the rights and responsibilities of citizenship"(p. 19). Not only is this goal still far from being attained, the focus on acquisition of skills and competencies of the American adult remains a major 21st century challenge. This paper outlines the vicious cycle of illiteracy in which so many African Americans are trapped. This cycle consists of a set of structural constraints which form a formidable barrier for both the illiterate, the government and community advocates who seek to improve the situation. Far from taking a fatalistic approach, however, we believe that these barriers can be overcome with decisive government action that targets the root causes of illiteracy. As with other deeply entrenched social issues, we must examine the way in which literacy and illiteracy are understood in America and take to task the elites who shape this understanding--in other words, those who frame public discourse on illiteracy in ways that are counterproductive and harmful to illiterate Americans.